ootsfandomcom-20200222-history
First Step in the Process
}} Vaarsuvius gets served. Cast * Vaarsuvius ◀ ▶ * Blackwing ◀ ▶ * Process Server ◀ * Process Server's Familiar ◀ Transcript Vaarsuvius pins down the wizard with Bugsby's Grasping Hand. Process Server: At this point, allow me to retract my thoroughly objectionable statements, and add that I personally regret any inconvenience that I may have caused you with my rash invectives. Vaarsuvius: "Inconvenience" does not begin to describe the situation, you pompous windbag. Vaarsuvius: My dwarven companion and I require that diamond dust for a task of literally universal significance— Vaarsuvius: —And now I will no longer be permitted to purchase it! Process Server: How is that MY fault? YOU attacked ME! Vaarsuvius: Subsequent to your deliberate provocation. Blackwing: Hey, hey, look: Mistakes were made all around, but the important thing is that this needless conflict is now over WITHOUT the loser's entire family line getting totally eradicated. Blackwing: So, you know. Blackwing: Progress. Process Server: Please, let me go and I will give you this scroll as tribute. It contains several rare and powerful spells. Process Server: All I beg is that I be allowed to know the name of the one who has defeated me so thoroughly. Vaarsuvius: Very well. When your peers ask who so soundly thrashed you in the market this day— Vaarsuvius: —you may tell them that you were humbled by Vaarsuvius, former student of— Vaarsuvius takes the scroll. Process Server: Served. Familiar: And witnessed. *ribbit* Process Server: Teleport! The wizard and his toad disappear with a "pop!" Blackwing: That was weird. Are the spells any good? Vaarsuvius: It is not a scroll. Vaarsuvius: My mate is suing me for divorce. Vaarsuvius: And full custody of the children. Blackwing: But you were only back home two days ago! How did the legal papers get filed so quickly? Scroll title reads "Drawmij's Instant Summons" D&D Context * It is somewhat ambiguous which of the various "Bigby's Hand" spells V is using in the first panel, but based on the fact that the wizard is pinned to the ground, a grappling maneuver, it would seem to be the 7th level Grasping Hand, though there is no humorous "Bugsby" or "Bixby" parody of the Bigby name this time. * The Process Server wizard uses the 5th level spell Teleport to escape. * The spell Drawmij's Instant Summons was first published in the 1978 AD&D (1st Edition) Players Handbook. It was a 7th level spell which allowed the Magic-User to recall to his hand one specially prepared object from anywhere in the world. In this strip the name of the spell is a pun, playing on another definition of the word "Summons" as a legal document issued by a court requiring a person's presence. Drawmij was a character in Gary Gygax's original Circle of Eight, having been originally played by Jim Ward, for whom the character is named. Instant Summons was the first, but over a dozen other spells in D&D publications bear the name Drawmij. Trivia * The title refers to service of process, the procedure by which a party to a lawsuit gives an appropriate notice of initial legal action to another party in the United States. The set of documents delivered is called "legal process" or simply "process". * This is the final appearance of the Process Server and his toad Familiar from the previous strip. External Links * 679}} View the comic * 124829}} View the discussion thread Category:Uses Teleport Category:Uses Various Hand Spells Category:Uses Bugsby's Grasping Hand Category:Uses Drawmij's Instant Summons Category:To Girard's Gate